HONG KONG - China's state media, athletes and netizens rallied to support Olympic swimming champion Pan Zhanle after critics including an Australian swim commentator said his world record swim in the 100 metres freestyle was not "humanly possible".

Pan smashed his own 100 metres freestyle world record, shaving 0.40 seconds off the previous mark he set at the World Championships in Doha in February, to humble rivals including Australia's Kyle Chalmers and Romania's David Popovici.

The 19-year old Pan finished in 46.60 seconds to take China's first swimming gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games. His win came after he "completed rigorous doping test programs prior to and during the games with zero positive results," the China Daily said on Friday (Aug 2).

Pan said he took 21 doping tests from May to July prior to the games. "I co-operated with all the testing procedures and stayed confident that I am competing fair and clean," he told the newspaper.

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